Chip design capabilities are of major importance for competitive microelectronics. EU initiatives such as the European Chip Design Platform with Chips Competence Centers and Chips Pilot Lines are currently underway to establish European design and prototyping capabilities. With the German Microelectronics Design Initiative, the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) has already laid important foundations for the design ecosystem in Europe: the first European open-source chip design platform at the Leibniz IHP, the R&D funding programs ‘DE:Sign’ and ‘DE:Sign Challenge’ with focus on EDA tools for open-source chip development, the international R&D funding program on advanced chip design with Taiwan, and the federal network ‘Chipdesign Germany’. This talk provides an overview about the initiative’s building blocks, next steps and how it complements European efforts.